


Self-Defense

by Eruden



Category: Original Work
Genre: EXO - Freeform, Exophilia, F/M, Human/Monster Romance, Monster Boyfriend, Orc/Human - Freeform, Orcs, Teasing, self-defense class
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-11
Updated: 2020-03-11
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:35:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23101060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eruden/pseuds/Eruden
Summary: Her self-defense instructor annoyed the hell out of her. With is swagger and smirks and just natural level of self-confidence. That's why Moon decides to do some extra self-defense research so she can knock that grin off his face.Inspired by a prompt on MonsterKinkMeme.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 35





	1. Chapter 1

With a name like Moonbeam Dream, you’d think she’d have learned to fight sooner. Surprisingly, the need didn’t rear its head until she was well into adulthood. As if walking home after a shit date hadn’t been bad enough, getting mugged was just the Universe being an utter asshole. Moon decided, after the trauma of the incident dissipated, to enroll in self-defense classes.

Three months later, she found herself staring up at the smirking maw of Bruhka, her smarmy bastard of an instructor.

The orc had an air about him that got under her skin. Confidence that skirted on arrogance. Self-assuredness she’d lost somewhere in her mid-20s. Tediously intimidating with his towering height, broad shoulders, and extremely-unfair orcish musculature currently straining against the fabric of his white tank top. His tight work-out pants - showing off sculpted calves, slopes of firm thighs, and  _ that round ass  _ \- were not helping Moon’s inexplicable irritation. 

She didn’t have to suffer that grin much longer as he took up position behind her. He drawled on to the newcomers about proper stances and defensive techniques when an attacker came from behind. Moon heard it all before, from Bruhka  _ and  _ from informative TouYube videos.

“Moon here will help me demonstrate how to break an attack from behind.” He took up a position behind her. She heard that smirk tilting at his lips, “Ready?”

“Yes.” 

Bruhka stopped over her, his arms wrapping around her quickly. As if second nature, Moon brought her forearms up, keeping him from locking her arms uselessly to her sides. She struggled, swearing to all the gods that he always seemed to hold her tighter than the others, as he continued talking.

“Moon managed to get her arms up in time to give her some wiggle room. She has more options open to her, now.”

When he paused, after suggesting a counter move for Moon to try, annoyance prickled in her. There was an evident chuckle waiting in his words. Tone heavy with sarcasm, she replied, “What? And ruin your obvious enjoyment of restraining me,  _ master _ ?”

A number of nervous giggles - and one loud guffaw that cut off in a choke - rose up from the other students.

The surprise flicker through his body, obvious enough to Moon in her close proximity. His hold loosened, for a split second. That’s when she moved. Slamming her heel into his foot, his yelp was her reward. She doubted it actually hurt; more like he wasn’t expecting it. Instinctively, he pulled slightly away, giving Moon more room to grab his arm and drop to the floor. She kicked out his knee while using her momentum to swing herself between and through the arch of his legs, still holding onto his arm.

Part of her didn’t think it’d work. TouYube videos had all sorts of bad tutorials, after all. And Bruhka was a fucking orc! He taught self-defense! Without a doubt, he’d have some sort of count--

**_WHUMP!_ **

Between her inertia and her weight teaming up, plus his momentary shock, Moon managed to drop Bruhka to his back, after sending head under heels. For a few seconds, the shock of her victory settled over her. Silence drifted atop her classmates, unsure if they should cheer or check on their instructor.

Bruhka just laid on the ground, blinking up at the ceiling in a stunned silence.

The quiet had gone on for a few beats, before chuckle-choke piped up, “So, flirt with your attacker. Got it.”

\---

After the last of the class trickled from the room, Moonbeam Dream remained, at Bruhka’s request. Nerves jangled in her thoughts. Was he angry with her unconventional move? Shocked? Maybe, with her victory over him, he’d tell her to not come back. Men would rather banish the source of their defeat than just live with it, in her experience.

Once they were alone, he turned to her, arms crossed and an eyebrow cocked. “What was  _ that _ , earlier?”

“What do you mean?” She feigned innocence, fighting down a smile of her own. When he finally managed to shake off his shock, he didn’t have a snarky or smarmy word to say to her. In fact, he seemed to avoid her for the rest of the class period.

“Is someone else training you?” A crease of annoyance deepened between his eyebrows.

Moon’s eyebrows shot up, curious. If she didn’t know better, she’d guessed he was  _ offended _ at the very notion. “Why would that matter?” 

“ _ I’m _ your instructor.” Bruhka closed the distance between them, standing a few feet from her. 

“I thought you were tired of punishing me all the time,  _ master. _ ” Moon rolled her eyes, though she couldn’t keep the strain of smugness from her tone. After all the teasing and taunting, all his pushing, she’d finally gotten under  _ his  _ skin. No wonder he liked doing it to her. It was exhilarating and made her skin prick with delight.

Bruhka narrowed his eyes as her last word lingered on her tongue. There was something different in his gaze. A barb of heat that interrupted her personal joy to send anticipatory shudders down her spine. The downward slant of his lips, uncommon, felt contradictory to the look in his eyes.

“If it matters to you that much, I’ve been watching self-defense videos on TouYube.” The words coaxed from her mouth the longer she stared up at his frown. Whatever unpleasant tension he held released, a little, as his stiff shoulders relaxed. Yet he still stared at her with a previously unseen fire in his gaze.

Moon shifted, awkward and suddenly uncertain where the conversation was heading. "Are we done here?"

"What happened to calling me master?" That smirk and teasing tone returned. This time, with a bit of heated suggestion, that made Moon really take him in.

Arms crossed, the curve of his biceps and forearms on display. Was he defensive or keeping his hands to himself? 

His stance was wide and firm, maybe a little stiff. His feet shifted, making her wonder if he was getting into better footing or if he was tempted to advance on her.

Eyebrows raised, crooked grin, an almost eager glint in his eye, anticipating something. It was that look he gave her that finally drove a realization home. 

_ Master _ . Like…BDSM-like? Embarrassment alarms went off in her head, ringing through her thoughts.

"That's not how I meant it!" The words shot out of Moon's mouth, heat flaring across her cheeks. 

"Really? That's a shame." His laugh wasn’t like his boisterous, bellowing laughs or half-breathed chuckles she’d grown used to. This laugh was throaty and soft and it sent tingles across Moon’s skin. "I like brats."

The heat worsened across her face. She only, barely, kept from stomping her foot. "I'm  _ not _ a brat!"

"Uppity sub, then." He returned with a wave of his hand.

"I'm-" Moon snapped her mouth shut. Had she been about to tell him she was a switch? When had their dynamic fine from antagonizing instructor and adult student to discussing sexual alignments?

His grin broadened across his lips. He took a step toward her, head cocked to the side as he leaned toward her. "Well, you certainly aren't a domme. So, switch then?"

"How do you know I'm not a domme?!" It was more an indignant shout than an inquiry. Irritation flared in her chest, watching the amusement dance across his face. Her fists clenched at her sides, mind tumbling with conflicting thoughts and curiosity.

"Your attitude is all wrong for a domme.” Again, that damn dismissive wave of his hand. As if suddenly realizing the annoyance eating away at her, Bruhka cocked his head to the side. His eyes narrowed and his grin curled a little more, the air around him becoming a bit more warm and electric. "Prove me wrong, then."

Thoughts floundered in Moon's head. Now, he was standing right in front of her,  _ challenging _ her to prove her dominance. She glared up at him, masking how out of her depth she was feeling. Was this a game to him? If she took him up, would he pull away and say he was joking? Or did he really want her to prove herself? 

Moon eyed him. There was no way he wanted her to prove herself, on the sexual front. Maybe he was just trying to piss her off for another round of sparring?

Where would she even start, if she wanted to attack? Moon considered her options, before realizing she had no clue. She didn’t have the heart to launch herself at him, to be a physically violent aggressor. Her shoulders sagged and she sighed, receiving a confused look from him.

“I can’t,” she muttered, after a moment’s thought. Her gaze flickered away from Bruhka’s face, a confusing heat and coldness knotting in her stomach. “I have no clue where to start with offensive. I joined your class to be able to defend myself.”

He blinked, appearing a bit dazed. 

“Wait…  _ shit… _ ” Bruhka dragged a hand over his face as he took a few steps away. He repeated the curse to himself a couple more times. Moon just stood there, watching him carefully. He squared his shoulders, before he looked up at her again. A wry smile curled at his lips and Moon thought she could see some faint color in his cheeks. “I misread the situation. Sorry. I’ll see you next class, okay?” 

And that was it. He turned and began, noisily, cleaning up. His back had firmly been turned to her, as if blocking any more conversation. Where an exciting heat had been, now shameful cold filled the air. Moon’s eyebrows furrowed, confused at the sudden shift. She was too tired to disseminate the situation and, with a shrug, she left Bruhka to his closing routine.

The evening’s interactions would linger, however, and she’d be left to mull over the reasons in the morning.


	2. Chapter 2

A few weeks later, Moon found herself lingering after class. Again, at Bruhka’s request. This time, she was a bit more certain  _ why _ , though. Their last after-class interaction had stayed with her and, eventually, she wondered if he was  _ actually _ interested in her. 

Like sexually. Maybe romantically? She wasn’t sure how he viewed relationships, honestly. It wasn’t really something that came up in lessons.

That line of thought led Moon to wonder how she felt about the idea. Did she want to wantonly screw her self-defense instructor? After a moment’s thought, she decided, yes, she’d very much like to do so. Even if he annoyed her.

In fact, Moon had come to the realization that her frustration with him partly stemmed from the fact he was “unobtainable,” as far as she knew. She was ridiculously attracted to him, but - after too many shit dates and the unspoken boundary of instructor and student - he wasn’t someone she could have.

Or so she subconsciously thought. 

Moon decided to test her theory out. Instead of wearing tee-shirts and sweats to class, she traded up to form-fitting gym gear: sports bras, tight shorts, clingy tank tops. Surreptitiously, when she knew Bruhka was watching, she’d stretch or flap her shirt, in an effort to ‘get a breeze’ going against her flushed skin. Inevitably, he’d abruptly turn away.

When Bruhka and she sparred - which became increasingly rare the longer her experiment went - Moon paid attention to how he held himself. There was a new vein of uncertainty in his stances; an awkward stiffness when he grabbed her or pinned her to the mats. A lot of times, he excused himself to the restroom afterward, especially if a certain - ahem - stiffness brushed against her in their practices.

As Bruhka exchanged a few words with the last of her classmates, Moon’s heart thrummed in her chest. She didn’t know what she was expecting to happen. Would he tell her to cut it out, angry at her teasing? Would pull her close and mash their lips together? She’d be lying if she said the thought of his hands, caressing and grabbing and groping at her, hadn’t kept her up at night.

The last thing she expected came out of Bruhka’s lips as he approached her, “I don’t believe I can teach you any longer.” 

A chill clenched at Moon’s guts. “Why?” 

“It’s… Because…” Unable to find the words, Bruhka huffed, shoulders tense. He ran a large hand through his hair as he shoved out a pile of folded papers. “Here, I have some friends that teach other self-defense classes.” 

Moon stared up at him, eyebrows furrowed and lips set into a frown. Without tearing her gaze away from him, she took the proffered papers. Suspicion mounted in her thoughts. Her glare lingered on him, before she brought out her phone and took a look through the assorted pamphlets.

After looking over the information on the first one, she found what she was looking for: a website. She tapped it into her phone, pulling up the “About the Instructor” page. A fit and stunning red ogre grinned back - about me page using she/her pronouns - with piercings and a fetching undercut dyed neon yellow. “Hm, she’s  _ cute _ .” 

“Oh, you like women?” There seemed to be a slight thread of relief in Bruhka’s tone. Moon wondered, if he thought she  _ only  _ liked women, would he stay on as her instructor? At least he’d respect that drawn line.

“I like all sorts,” she answered, not looking up from her phone as she scrolled through the site.

Moon could almost  _ hear  _ Bruhka mull over this information in the following silence. 

“Uh, wait,” Bruhka cleared his throat, coming closer with his hand extended. “I-I just remembered, Kriska isn’t taking any more students, at the moment.” 

Moon narrowed her eyes up at him, handing him the pamphlet. He seemed unable to meet her gaze as he took the paper from her.

She pulled out another pamphlet, repeating her earlier actions. Find the website, pull it up on her phone, glance over the instructor’s info page. This time, the instructor was a satyr with a brilliant smile and bright green eyes. 

“Ooh,” Moon grinned at the picture. From the corner of her eye, she caught Bruhka tense. 

“Uh, he’s not… not available either.” The orc mumbled, still looking away from Moon. “Sorry.”

She made a huffy sound, as if annoyed, but she couldn’t keep the smile off her lips. Dear gods, Bruhka was making this  _ too  _ entertaining. And he was none the wiser to her amusement, since he refused to look at her.

Moon went through three more pamphlets, performing the same  _ too  _ interested act. And Bruhka would  _ always  _ take the pamphlet back, claiming too many students, or a sudden illness, or just not being what she was looking for. 

“Well, it seems like  _ you’re  _ the best fit for me, then.” Moon heaved a sigh, shoving the remaining pamphlet out to him. 

“I’m not.” 

“Why’s that?” 

He finally turned his face to her, jaw working back and forth as if he were gnawing on possible words. After a swallow, he managed a grumbly, “I can’t.” 

Moon heaved a sigh, crossing her arms. This was getting truly frustrating. “ _ Why? _ ”

Bruhka huffed, hands flexing. His mouth opened a few times, but snapped shut after reconsidering his potential words. His gaze flicked away from Moon, as if trying to find a good excuse in the classroom. Floor, ceiling, mats, fighting dummy. He huffed again, but - this time - he seemed to deflate a little in defeat.

“Because I like it too much when you wear form-fitting gear. And I get growly thinking of someone else sparring you. And…” By this point, one of Bruhka’s flexing hands ran through his hair, as the other dragged down his face. It was like his hands needed to be busy. His voice became gravelly and low enough to make Moon’s lower stomach clench. “And, as your instructor, I shouldn’t think about throwing you to the mat and fucking you hard, every time we spar. But here we are.”

She stared up at him, face flushed and a confusing mix of feelings churning through her thoughts. Chewing on her bottom lip, a wave of guilt washed through her. Oh dear. Had she taken this teasing testing too far?

Again, Bruhka couldn’t meet her gaze. “I’m sorry.” 

Moon pressed her lips together, rocking back on her feet as she glanced toward the door. Maybe she should just leave? Before she could seriously debate it, she spoke, “I’m sorry, too, Bruhka.” 

She caught his curious peek, from the corner of her eye. 

“After the last time you asked me to stay after class, I had suspicions. And I tested my hypothesis.” 

Bruhka’s eyes narrowed. Moon could see him piecing it all together. “You were  _ trying  _ to turn me on?” 

She made a mostly affirmative sound at the back of her throat, suddenly feeling foolish and childish. This had been a bad idea. He was going to be angry, wasn’t he? What person wouldn’t be, being toyed with like that? Why’d she think it was a good idea?

Suddenly, Bruhka closed the distance between them, easily boxing Moon into a corner. She looked up at him, wide-eyed and heart stuttering. He stooped over her, hands braced against the wall as he lowered his face closer to her. His body heat licked over her, tempting and taunting. With that low, half-growly tone that shot to her loins, he grumbled, “I resubmit my brat theory.”

Moon jutted her chin out, lips pursed. “And _ I  _ submit you’re a masochist.” 

Bruhka scoffed softly, rolling his eyes, before he smiled sheepishly down at Moon. “So, what now?” 

Biting her bottom lip, Moon stood on tiptoe, reaching her arms up to loop around Bruhka’s neck. Holding his breath, he stood stock still as she grinned up at him. For all his teasing, Moon wondered if he was projecting with the whole ‘brat’ spiel. Her eyes fluttered shut as she pressed her lips against his. Almost immediately, Bruhka melted into the contact, moaning gently as he returned the kiss. 

The kiss quickly deepened, punctuated by gasps and moans as Bruhka hoisted Moon up. He shifted their position, pinning her against the wall as his hands trailed down her outer thighs. Moon’s hands explored, fingertips tracing along the slopes of his shoulders and down his chest. Beneath his straining shirt, she could feel his muscles twitch under her touch.

Bruhka was the one to break the kiss, color darkening across his cheek. He shot her a suddenly hesitant look. 

“Something wrong?” Moon asked, knowing she was just as flushed as he.

“Is this just a fuck?” He swallowed, the blush darkening with embarrassment as he added, “Or do you, uh, do you wanna go on a date sometime?” 

The laugh bubbled from Moon before she could stop it. She never considered her arrogant self-defense instructor could be so adorably uncertain. Canting her head to the side, Moon gave Bruhka a look, as if she were considering the pros and cons of the idea. “Well, I won’t get mugged with you, that’s for sure.”

“Very.” His fingers coiled a little tighter against her thighs.

Moon hummed, trailing her fingertips lightly along his throat. She watched his throat work as he swallowed and, a little smugly, noticed the hard throbbing heat now nudging at her ass. Her body clenched, already imagining how he’d feel inside her. Large and hot and firm. Moon bit the inside of her cheek, trying to stifle her shiver.

“Well, if there’s a date on the horizon,” she glanced up at Bruhka’s heated gaze, which had never left her face, “then we’re not having sex tonight.” 

She could almost hear the whine in his voice as he asked, “Why?” 

Moon narrowed her eyes, though the delight was still evident in her smile. “I like the idea of making you wait.” 

Bruhka groaned, leaning his forehead against her shoulder. “Such a tease.” 

The heat of his breath, ghosting over her skin, brought tingles to her flesh. Instinctively, she angled her head in such a way to give him more space, should he choose to kiss and tease her there. Noticing the unspoken request, he grinned against her throat, before nipping and suckling along the proffered expanse of skin. 

She moaned, shivering and toes curling at the touch. Her fingers crooked against his chest, nails digging into his shirt.

“I don’t think you want to wait, either.” That smugness had returned, lips twisted into a smirk against Moon’s throat. She wanted to deny his assertion. Wanted to be stubborn and make him wait. See how badly he wanted her after a few more days of simmering. Another part of her ached for his touch, his bare flesh against her, the firmness of him pressed close. As if sensing her conflict, Bruhka chuckled, “How about this: It’s Friday, let’s get dinner and catch a movie - if we can wait  _ that  _ long - and see where the night goes?” 

Moon hummed against Bruhka’s ear, her fingers finding their way into his hair. He tensed, hips jerking involuntarily as the sound resonated in his ear. She grinned, rolling her hips against him, garnering a low grunt from his throat. Despite some residual uncertainty - she hadn’t gone on a date since the mugging - Moon couldn’t deny delight at the prospect. Plus, Bruhka was definitely safe to travel with. Something in her relented as she whispered right into his ear, “Alright, but I’m going to tempt you the entire time.” 

“I can handle it.” Bruhka grinned, pulling back enough to lay a kiss to Moon’s lips. She leaned into the gentle touch, sighing against him. When he pulled back, he flashed that frustrating smirk. “You’ve been doing that since the moment you walked into my class, Moonbeam.”


End file.
